Alternate
by SpicyPepper-SweetSugar
Summary: Oliver wakes up one morning and something very, very strange is going on. Confused about everything, he sets out on a journey to find out the truth but at the same time wonders if he really wants to know. Life is good, isn't it? So why should he mess with it? Sometimes, what one thinks they want, isn't what they really want... [I suck at summaries! R&R? :)]


**Note: Surprise! :D Honestly, I didn't plan on posting this until I was finished with the whole story, but I really really want to know what you think of it before I continue writing! Since I also don't know whether I'll be posting on Crumbled Papers next week, I figured some might want something extra! :) I really hope you'll like it! Don't give up, it's a little confusing in the beginning!**

**Read the note at the end for more information on this fic! ;)**

**Enjoy!**

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"**Alternate"**

**Chapter 1**

**Word count: 2,468**

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The sun warmed his skin as its rays slipped through the see-through curtains. Oliver didn't move at first, savoring the feeling of having had a good night of sleep for the first time in what felt like ages. He was laying on his stomach, his head turned to the window and slowly, he opened his eyes, only to shut them quickly again when the light got too bright for him to handle. Stretching on the bed, he decided that he might allow himself another minute in bed, so he turned away from the window to face the other wall, when he suddenly realized, he wasn't alone in the bed. Speaking of the bed, now that he looked around, he didn't recognize the room to be his either. Looking back at the sleeping woman that was laying on her side, her back to him, he felt his throat close up. He would recognize those curls anywhere.

_Laurel._

How the hell did he end up in Laurel's bed last night? He remembered being at Verdant, down in the Foundry with Sara and agreeing that they shouldn't be together as more than friends, and then, it was just blank. Slowly, he got up into a sitting position and looked for any clothes that might be scattered on the floor, because that was the only explanation, wasn't it? He must have slept with Laurel, and only two days after he had slept with Sara. He felt awful about it too now. Then he noticed that he was actually wearing something, and Laurel was also wearing her PJ:s, and his clothes weren't on the floor at all. Instead, they were neatly folded on an armchair in the corner of the room. He looked around and took in his surroundings, noticing that a lot of things were different in Laurel's room. There were pictures of her and her family, some with Sara and some without, but there were also pictures of her and him on various events that he only remembered going to before the Island. But why would Laurel have those pictures up on her wall?

"Ollie?" a tired voice sounded behind him. "Are you getting ready for work already?"

Laurel's question caused him to freeze. What was he supposed to say?

"I'm sorry," he managed to get out. "About last night," he clarified, not daring to turn around and face her. "It was a mistake."

He felt Laurel's warm fingers connect with his left arm as she pulled at him, trying to get him to turn around. "What are you talking about, Ollie?" she asked, sounding just as confused as he was inside. Yet, the only thing he could see at the moment was the diamond ring that was currently on display on her left ring finger.

"Are you _engaged_?" he asked, standing up from the bed. Turning around he finally faced her as he felt the shock of his own question run through him.

Laurel shot him a worried look. "Are you okay, Ollie? Did you have a nightmare or something?" she asked, looking confused.

"Tell me," he demanded, tearing his gaze away from the ring to look into her eyes. Laurel sat up and once again gave him a once over.

"Is this some kind of a bad joke, because it isn't funny, Oliver," she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. "Are you getting cold feet?"

His heart was beating frantically in his chest. Instead of answering the question- which he honestly didn't know how to answer- he turned around and grabbed the pants and the shirt that he'd seen on the armchair. "I'm sorry," he said as he pulled off the pajama pants he had worn and quickly pulled on the jeans and then changed his shirt. "I don't know what happened here, but I don't really know if I want to know," he told her.

She got up from the bed and walked toward him. "Honey, what's wrong?" she asked, trying to put her hand on his cheek, but he turned away from her as if she had wanted to slap him.

"What did you mean by cold feet earlier?" he whispered, his eyes going to the pictures that were hanging on the walls.

"You're asking me if I'm engaged, when you already know the answer," she replied. "The only thing that would explain you making jokes about it, is you getting cold feet and trying to break it off."

He turned back to face her. "We're engaged?" he asked, not meaning to sound so skeptical, but as mentioned, he didn't really know what the hell was going on. "You and I?"

Laurel only smiled at him and placed her hands on his shoulders. "And we've been planning the wedding for six months now," she confirmed and suddenly, he wanted to be swallowed whole by the floor. When Laurel started leaning in, however, he put his hands on her shoulders to lightly push her back.

"Wait," he said, causing her to once again look at him in that worried manner. "I- I don't remember ever getting engaged," he told her honestly. It was absurd. How could he have woken up in bed next to Laurel, only to have her tell him that they've been engaged for six months. "It's impossible," he continued. "We can't be getting married."

His comment made Laurel pull away from him and take a step back. "Ollie, you're scaring me," she said. "Did you hit your head or something while you slept?"

"Laurel, I don't remember us even being in a _relationship_ after I returned from the Island, nevertheless proposing and getting engaged to you." He hadn't intended to sound so harsh, but it needed to be said. Something was awfully wrong with this whole situation.

"Island? Oliver, you really should go back to bed," Laurel said, once again reaching for him, but he stepped away from her.

"I need to get home," he said. "I need to go. I'm sorry," he repeated, not really sure why he was apologizing anymore. Before Laurel had the chance to say anything, he was already headed for the door.

"Oliver, stop!" Laurel called after him, but he ignored her, grabbed his jacket and the keys that were in the bowl on the small drawer and walked out of the apartment. Outside, he found his bike parked on the driveway with his helmet secured to it, but considering how the morning had begun, he couldn't exactly say that it made his top ten list of strange things that had happened to him. Trying not to think about it too deeply, he got on his bike, put the key in the ignition and drove off as fast as he could.

It was still early, he realized, since the streets weren't packed yet and he could easily make his way to the mansion. He hadn't been there for a few days, ever since he found out about Thea being Malcolm Merlin's daughter, but for some reason, the only place he could think about going to was his old home. What if this was another plot his mother had figured out? Could she really be that twisted and sick that she'd have Laurel pretend to be engaged to him, only to throw him off?

Nothing made any sense to him, so instead, he focused on the road ahead of him, not daring to think of what he might find when he got to the place he had once called home.

He parked the motorcycle outside and hurried to the door, where he knocked loudly. It only took a minute for Raisa to get to the door.

"Oliver," she said with a happy smile. "What a nice surprise. Your mother is in the dining room eating breakfast-" she stopped abruptly as he made his way past her without saying a word and headed in his mother's direction.

When he got to the dining room, Moira was sipping her tea gingerly and reading a newspaper and still in her robe. She looked up at him and smiled brightly, "Oliver! I wasn't expecting you." She put her tea down and walked up to him before embracing him tightly. Oliver stood frozen. "What's wrong honey? Did something happen with Laurel?"

Moira's concern seemed to be real, for once, and Oliver made a mental note to add that to things that weren't making any sense. Before Oliver had a chance to reply, however, another person joined them.

"Moira, sweetheart, do you think I should wear my blue or gray tie to the office today?"

Oliver hadn't heard that voice for six years now, unless of course one counted the hallucinations he had had while on the Island. He took a step away from his mother and turned around, only to be greeted my his father's smile. "Oliver! What a nice surprise!" Robert Queen said, and Oliver felt as if he was going to throw up. When he didn't make a move, Robert walked up to him and patted him on the back. "Will you be joining me and your mother for breakfast before we head off for work?"

His father had touched him, and he had _felt_ it. But it couldn't be real. His father was dead.

"This isn't real," Oliver let out, and his statement was quickly followed by a strangled laugh. "It isn't _possible_," he continued, pointing his finger at his father. "You're _dead_."

Moira and Robert looked at each other before looking back at Oliver.

"Son, are- Are you all right?" Robert asked, taking a small step forward, reaching for him, but Oliver stepped away.

"You _died_," Oliver repeated. "You've been dead for six- almost _seven_ years now!" His mother shot his father a worried glance.

"Oliver, you've been working too hard at the office," Robert said calmly. "I can assure you that I am _not_ dead."

Oliver didn't know what to believe anymore. Laurel was his fiance, apparently, his mother spoke to him as if she hadn't lied about his sister's real father for years and his father, was standing right in front of him, saying that he wasn't dead.

"You died before we reached the Island," Oliver said, trying to calm himself. "When the Queen's Gambit went down... You were dead and I was marooned for five years on Lian Yu." He couldn't believe he was trying to convince his father, who looked healthy as a horse, that he was in fact dead. Images of the suicide flashed through Oliver's mind and he _knew_ that it had been real. For a second, he wondered if he was going insane.

"Oliver, you were never marooned anywhere, sweetheart," his mother said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "And your father is here with us, just like he's always been," she tried, but Oliver shook his head.

"It's not possible," he repeated. "I _saw _you die on that boat!"

Robert looked at the accusing finger that Oliver had pointed at him and slowly pushed his hand to the side. "Oliver, son," Robert began calmly. "It seems that you've had some kind of a vivid nightmare that you haven't quite woken up from," he said. "I'm telling you now, that I have never in my life heard of an Island named Lian Yu, and neither has your mother. We've been here, just like we've been for all of your life and neither you nor I have taken a boat trip anywhere on the Queen's Gambit for almost two years now," he assured. "I'm not dead, Oliver," he repeated, putting his hand on Oliver's other shoulder.

Oliver looked at his parents and felt a knot form in his stomach. Should he cry or be happy or do both? When his father had spoken, Oliver realized two things: One, he was pretty sure he was losing his mind, and two, his father was alive, and whatever was going on right now, could only be explained by the fact that the sinking of the Queen's Gambit and Lian Yu, had never happened.

-§-

Machines beeped slowly, his breathing was hollow and Felicity felt sick to her stomach. She was holding on to his hand, desperately, praying that he would find his way back to them all. When she had gotten the call from the hospital, she had rushed out in only her pajama shorts and MIT shirt, so the nurses had been kind enough to lend her a blanket.

"He'll be okay, Felicity," Diggle said from behind her, putting his hand on her shoulder. "The doctors said the surgery went good and that from what they could see on the scans, there hasn't been any brain swelling."

"But it's still a _coma_, John," Felicity spoke, her voice trembling. "You never know with those. One second it can be good, and the next, his lung is collapsing and he's going into cardiac arrest and-"

"Felicity," Diggle interrupted, seeing as the tears fell freely from her eyes. "He was lucky that he was wearing a helmet and that the other car had actually stopped when he hit it."

"He _flew_ off his bike, Diggle," Felicity sniffed. "Head first, straight down on the concrete. He has several broken ribs, internal bleeding and a broken leg. Not to mention that a second car _barely_ managed to stop from driving over him. He was unconscious when the ambulance got there and they had to pull him into surgery immediately. I don't really want to call that luck."

Diggle sighed and only squeezed her shoulder. "He'll be fine," he said again. "He's been through so much worse and if he doesn't pull through, I'm going to kill him."

Felicity managed to laugh through her tears, "You know you'll be killing an already dead man, right?" she asked and he nodded.

"Don't look too deep into the details," Diggle chuckled. "I've called Mrs. Queen and Thea. They should be on their way here."

Felicity nodded, even though she didn't quite believe it was a good idea to have Moira there. Oliver's mother knew that Felicity had told him about Thea, so she dreaded the fact that Moira might be confronting her when she was already upset about Oliver's accident.

Looking at his unconscious form, Felicity felt tears well up in her eyes again. She squeezed his hand and leaned down to first press her lips against it, and then rest her forehead there.

"Please come back," she whispered. "Please come back to us... Come back to _me_, Oliver..."

She knew that Diggle was hearing every word she was saying, but he didn't comment and neither did he remove his hand from her shoulder. Instead, he squeezed her shoulder and pulled a chair closer, so he could sit next to her, wrapping his arm around her back, trying to show any kind of comfort he could.

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**Note: Well, I hope you weren't too confused by what's going on in this story! In case you were, let me break it down for you: Oliver is in a coma after an accident and he is dreaming of a world where The Queen's Gambit never sank, but he still remembers everything that happened on the Island as if it was real, which only makes him confused!**

**In the REAL world, Felicity and Diggle are by his side...**

**Anyway, I have ten chapters planned for this in total and they will be built up like this one, first with Oliver in his "dream world" (which means that some characters might be OOC, including Oliver himself, because dudes, this is all a dream!) and the "real world" were we'll be seeing Team Arrow and Oliver's family and friends handling his comatose state! Also, this takes place after 2x13 and is completely AU after that, so there won't be any established Sara/Oliver-relationship (but it will be mentioned!)... After all, this is an Olicity fic! ;)**

**Feel free to review and tell me what you think! I won't be posting any other chapters on this for a while since I'll be focusing on other stories and my studies, but when I finish the story completely, I'll probably post once a week, like with Crumbled Papers! :)**

**xoxo**

**Spicy**


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